JB: A key part of the market which is not discussed as much as it should be is older homeowners.
There is focus on helping first-time buyers get onto the housing ladder but there should also be incentives for older people to sell and downsize to free up the housing stock.
This could be in the form of more stamp duty cuts encouraging people to downsize earlier rather than taking equity release or living in properties too large for their needs.
More rules and regulation on the agent side of the housing market, qualifications for estate agents, in the same way the mortgage market was reviewed in the mid noughties.
An overhaul of the process through agents to allow for fairer bidding on properties and caps on maximum bids over the asking price.
The top end of the market can access specialist buying agents to help and advise them on the process, first time buyers in most areas don't necessarily have this.
Lack of housing stock was contributing to rising prices - people are bidding over asking prices which is inflating the market.
Potentially one of the issues causing this is some people having access to large amounts of cash from their parents which allows them to pay over the odds.
A way to restrict this could be taxation on gifts from parents above a certain level.
One of the biggest barriers is being able to save for the deposit, so for first time buyers if they could defer some income into a 'deposit fund' tax free with no limit, then that could help people to save more themselves towards purchasing a property.
The most obvious issue which is widely known is the lack of housing supply, building more homes is key. However there needs to be a balance of quality and quantity.
FTA: If a first-time buyer comes through your door, wanting a mortgage, what advice are you giving them right now?
JB: I think the main thing would be the type of property they are thinking of buying and trying wherever possible to purchase a property they can stay in longer-term, so that they can avoid the costs of moving and we can give them some certainty on their mortgage costs for longer.
We are based in London and the changes to stamp duty mean that some first time buyers in our part of the market are massively benefitting from this tax cut.
The problem is they are paying so much more in interest on their mortgage than they would have 12 months ago so on a monthly basis costs are still tight.
